Portable data collection terminals have many applications in a variety of industries. For example, a portable data collection terminal may be employed by a driver on a delivery route to record sales or to track inventory delivered to customers, or otherwise provide an automated accounting function. Another example is in the use of radio frequency data capture terminals on forklifts in warehouses or factories where items to be transported are identified by bar codes. Typically, a data collection terminal is placed in a storage apparatus or dock to recharge its internal batteries and transfer data stored in its memory to a central computer for processing. However, where a data collection terminal must operate for long periods of time, e.g., at remote sites, vehicle mounted docks are needed to recharge the data collection terminal's batteries in the field. The vehicle dock may also provide for data communication during battery recharge. Examples of such data communication include wireless links such as RF, cellular telephone, etc., whereby inventory, sales, or delivery information may be transmitted prior to the end of an operator's shift or completion of a route, communication with a portable printer to provide a hard copy such as an invoice or delivery ticket, communication with a fax and/or modem, etc.
A vehicle dock should provide positive retention of the data terminal while the vehicle is in motion. As many operators may not be inclined toward painstaking or precise manipulations, a vehicle docking apparatus should be quickly and simply operated. It would be highly advantageous to provide a data terminal docking apparatus which can be quickly and simply operated and which requires a minimum of attention and care from operators, while also providing extremely secure retention of the data terminal.